Nintendo Advises Pokmon Fans: Pre-Orders Top 500,000

April 18, 2007

Nintendo Advises Pokémon Fans: Pre-Orders Top
500,000

Pre-orders for the upcoming Pokémon Diamond and
Pokémon Pearl video games for the portable Nintendo DS have topped one half
million in the United States, and Nintendo is advising fans to brace themselves
for the next wave of Poké-mania. Based on the huge pre-sales for Pokémon Diamond
and Pokémon Pearl, Nintendo expects them to be among the top-selling games for
all of 2007.

With four days to go until they arrive, more than
533,000 pre-orders have been taken for Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl.
Already these games have more than doubled the pre-sale numbers of Pokémon
FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen, which launched in 2004. Pokémon FireRed and
Pokémon LeafGreen went on to sell more than 3.4 million combined in North
America.

Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl have
consistently ranked among the top-selling video game products on Amazon.com, and
there are still four days until launch.

Pokémon became a nationwide hit the instant it
arrived in the United States in 1998. Now a new wave of Pokémon excitement is on
its way, complete with more than 100 new Pokémon characters, the ability for
players to battle wirelessly on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and voice-chat
abilities, which act like a cell phone but with connection among friends only.

The Official Nintendo Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Player's Guide also will be available at retail on April 22. For more
information about the games, visit
www.Pokemon-Games.com.